The auto industry is about to go on a hiring spree as car makers and parts suppliers race to find engineers, technicians and factory workers to build the next generation of vehicles.

The U.S. government plans to sell another 30 million shares of General Motors stock in a public offering on Thursday as it speeds up efforts to divest itself from a stake in the auto giant that it got in a bailout four years ago.

General Motors made money in North America and Asia and lost a bundle in Europe as it nearly doubled last year's fourth-quarter profit.

General Motors will hire as many as 1,500 workers to staff a new computer technology center in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Mich.

Stocks are down because of the company's losses in Europe, its huge pension liability and overall uncertainty about the economy.

Following in the footsteps of rival Ford, General Motors will offer lump-sum buyouts to 42,000 retirees and shift its retirement holdings to a group annuity.

Three years after the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, sales of cars and trucks are surging. Sales could exceed 14 million this year, above last year's 12.8 million.

Ford Motor Co. will pay its U.S. factory workers a $6,000 signing bonus and add thousands of U.S. factory jobs as part of a four-year contract deal reached Tuesday with the United Auto Workers union.